


The Princess & The Hacker

by HecoHansen31



Series: The Last Kingdom Modern AU [1]
Category: The Last Kingdom (TV)
Genre: F/M, Incorrect Techonological Knowledge, Mention of sex, Modern AU, Sex Worker Ealhswith, mention of past child abuse, revenge porn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25052902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HecoHansen31/pseuds/HecoHansen31
Summary: When Eahlswith is a victim of a revenge porn scheme, she is given a rather interesting contact, an hacker, that might solve all her problems, and do much more.
Relationships: Ealhswith/Sihtric (The Last Kingdom)
Series: The Last Kingdom Modern AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846891
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. The Ice Cream Shop

Ealhswith had thought that that day wouldn’t have been different from the previous one.

And the one before that.

It’d be just another client, a simple lousy fuck she’d fake enjoying for the sake of finishing early and go back home earlier so that she could work a bit more on her final thesis and then go to bed to a nice time.

The dude hadn’t been the best of her clients for sure, excessively rough.

Although she was a professional in the sex industry, this didn’t mean that she wanted to be tossed out like a doll.

Just buy a plastic one, if that’s what you like.

It’d be cheaper.

And when the he had officially finished, he had been even more horrible to her, insisting that the agency for which Ealhswith worked would have received the money, and not her.

Which was an option, but this way she wouldn’t have had any kind of tip and seeing all the effort she had done to make that prick raise…

… she felt like she deserved it.

But she was already a bit late on her own time plan and she had just flipped the guy off in her mind, pushing her clothes quickly on and setting up a reminder on her phone for the agency to have them blacklist the guy so that he wouldn’t harass any of the other girls.

She also insisted that he hadn’t paid her, yet, preferring to settle it with the agency.

So, they had to torment him in case he didn’t pay by the end of the week.

She was thankful for the agency, although they were quite tough and took most of her earning, she felt more comfortable, since they’d run check on the clients before sending the girls and were some kind of legalized organization, which meant that she paid taxes but she didn’t risk getting arrested.

And the agency was very private about both towards the clients and both towards the girls and the boys working for them, which was great because although Ealhswith wasn’t ashamed of her work, she didn’t want her family to discover it.

She had started with modelling, but then moved quickly on the sex industry since it’d get her enough money to continue on studying and keep her apartment, meanwhile she finished her studies, without having to weight on her family, since they already had their own problematics.

Many who had discovered her profession had commented about why she couldn’t have a normal job, like a bartender or a waitress, but the truth was that those jobs didn’t make enough money for her to take care of everything around her and involved much more groping than many thought.

And if she had to be groped on a daily basis, she preferred to be paid for it.

In the end, it was just a job like another.

And this meant that she didn’t tolerate any disrespect on her job.

So, when the client of that afternoon had texted her, right when she had come back from a small trip to the grocery store for some comfort food, she had been ready to tell him that he had to contact the agency to set up another problem and this number was to be used only after having set up the appointment.

But she had been soon horrified to discover that he hadn’t meant to book another appointment, but he instead had sent her a video and for a moment she had thought he had sent it to the wrong number.

And then she had downloaded it and played it.

And she had been happy to have closed the door behind her before.

It was a video of her… and him… doing what they had done that afternoon.

And her entire life fell down onto her, heavily.

He must have set up an hidden camera to record her, and she hadn’t checked since she had thought that the agency wouldn’t have allowed something like this to happen.

She had never heard any of her colleagues comment about such a situation.

And then another message had come up.

A blackmailing one.

‘Let’s meet again and this time free and if I am satisfied, I won’t share this on the whole internet’.

Her heart sunk because although he had no idea who she truly was, it was her face, the one in the video and although it wasn’t anything more than a badly made amateur movie, it would have ruined not only her career had it been published, but also her life.

Her parents would have disowned her.

She had tried to calm down the man, already feeling her heartbeat increase at the thought of that video being sent to any other people, but the man confirmed that she was the only one who had received it…

… and would remain the only one, had she allowed him to take advantage of her.

Something that she refused to do.

But had she truly any chance to refuse him?

A thing such as this could ruin a normal person’s life, but it would have been so much worse for her, since she was sure that if this got out, it would have tainted her image, not only in everyone’s eyes but also in agency’s ones.

The agency wanted their workers to have a clean and discreet façade and a video like that might have ruined that.

She hadn’t known what to do, who to talk to.

She didn’t know how to handle all of this.

She hadn’t so much technic knowledge to know whether this treat was true or not.

And eventually she has settled on calling Christine, a fellow friend who worked also in the escorting industry something that made her think she might understand and be discreet about it.

But she hadn’t certainly expected what Christine had told her after knowing about the blackmail.

“…it happened to you too?!” she seemed almost not surprised that such a thing was possible and then went on explaining that she had something similar happening to her, with a client taking photos of her meanwhile she was in the bathroom, also claiming to publish them in case she didn’t comply everything he asked of her “… sadly it is much more common than you might think”.

“But… I thought… the agency would run some checks and…” she was panicking, but the knowledge that someone else had been in the same situation helped her quite a bit.

Christine insisted on explaining much more as she came over to Eahlswith’s house, something for which she was thankful, not wanting to be alone in such a moment, and Christine was quite a relief, explaining fully her story and how scared she had been, but she had managed to solve it as she had passed Ealhswith a phone contact.

‘… he is a hacker… a good one’ she explained, calmly since Ealhswith was looking like a frightened animal “… he took care of my problem, after a girl from the agency heard about it. He is clean and not too expensive, but most importantly he does the job amazingly”.

‘Is it… is it seriously this common?’ she asked softly to her friend, once she had come down from the scare.

‘Oh sweetie, don’t you ever browse porn sites?’ a tight expression of annoyance appeared on Christine’s face ‘… revenge porn is the literal most popular shit on there, sadly’.

* * *

The following day, after assuring her blackmailer that she agreed to his ‘deal’ she had come to see the hacker that Christine had suggested her, coming to stop at a small apartment, the place where Sthric, the hacker’s name, had told her to meet him.

She had almost expected something more… sketchy, although Christine had explained her that he was ‘one of the good guys’.

But that apartment looked quite cozy and small, although it seemed every inch of an ex-fratboy’s mansion, with a few decorations hanging from a small balcony, that looked horribly misplaced, but she thought that the last thing she could do was comment on his choosing in exterior design.

She moved to the door, having been told to ring the doorbell and ask for Sihtric, but she didn’t need to do much, because right after the doorbell had been rung, a tall guy was in front of her, looking very much unlike the nerdy hacker she had expected.

He looked actually handsome and for a moment she doublechecked the address, but it was right and the guy sent her a quick look examining her, before muttering a tight:

‘… you must be Ealhswith’ the way he spoke was measured and attentive, as if he didn’t get many chances to talk, but his voice had a pretty sound to, definitely reassuring ‘… can we walk a bit, meanwhile we talk about your problem? My house suddenly is… full’.

The way he said it told Ealhswith that he wasn’t in the slightest happy of that situation.

She just nodded, surprised by the fact that he didn’t look further than her face, focusing his gaze onto his own shoes.

That was strange since she knew for sure that men whenever they were informed of her profession wouldn’t stop looking at her body as if they could already see her naked.

The previous night she had sent Sihtric a small text, explaining him her situation, wanting to know whether he would be able to solve her problem or not, to which he had answered that he’d have to see and preferred to talk with her about it, if she was free the following day.

She had expected the ‘come on’s and some flirting pick-up lines, but he had just stayed professional, not saying a word more than he needed.

Something that was echoed with the way he moved, carefully, almost as if he wasn’t used to his body’s shape, having suddenly grown into it in one night.

They had moved onto the road, him moving by her side, with a lengthy distance, so that she could have her own privacy but at the same time, she couldn’t help but have this feeling that he was observing her, although Sihtric kept his eyes on the ground

Something she was used to.

But Sihtric seemed attentive not to be caught.

“… I was on a job…” she didn’t know why she felt suddenly ashamed of admitting that she worked as an escort, although she wasn’t for sure embarrassed of it.

But she hadn’t said much, if not nothing, to anyone that wasn’t in her same business, so suddenly speaking about it made her nervous, although she didn’t have nothing to hide.

“… a client took a video without my permission of us…” was she seriously blushing about it?

“… do you know with what he might have taken it?”.

She was glad for Sihtric’s technical question and not focusing on her ‘job’, but she was extremely worried of answering negatively, thinking it might have been important, so she simply shoook her head, adding:

“I do think that he had a secret camera, since he pushed his phone on the bedside table to check the hour…” she explained trying to remember the previous afternoon, as she scanned the room in her memory “… but I didn’t notice anything”.

“Technology sadly has become more and more discreet…” explained Sihtric “… so sadly I don’t blame you for not noticing that something was wrong”.

And although she hadn’t realized it, what he said made her feel a bit less guilty for the thing that had happened, the previous afternoon.

“… can I see the video?” this certainly got her to blush “… just to see if I can detect the model of the camera”.

Easlwith nodded, although she couldn’t help but be a bit skeptic about it.

Was he doing it because he needed it, or he wanted to try to catch the glimpse of some free porn?

Still she showed it to him, without the audio, and again Sihtric surprised her with simply checking the first scene, involving a simple exchange of curtesy between her and a client, and then paused the video

“… it is a camera, but nothing professional, which will make it easy to track down” he explained softly, before he asked if he could take the phone in his hands getting out his own and for a moment Ealhswith was scared shitless that he would have forwarded it to his own phone, but Sihtric simply clicked an app on his own phone, where a list of technology materials appeared and he searched through them, finding one and then pushing a few more buttons.

And Ealhswith didn’t understand much, although she thought she was good with her own computer, but Sihtric seemed to do it like it was the most common thing.

As if it was something that he definitely did daily, quickly clicking a few more apps, eventually settling himself up in what looked like somebody’s else computer and then with a click the video disappeared from her phone.

And Sihtric closed all the apps he had opened, before muttering as he dragged lazily his thumb on the screen as if it calmed him:

“I should have finished with this” and only five minutes had passed “… I am not sure that he doesn’t have copies saved on external pieces, but I have installed a virus in case he try to download them in the computers that will immediately delete them and will threaten of denouncing him to the police”.

Ealhswith truly didn’t know what to say, unable to grasp the fact that that thing that had been truly bothering her from last night, making her panic completely and worry for the worst was now… solved and finished.

And she’d never have to hear about that asshole.

Sihtric nodded, scratching lightly the back of his head, almost as if he didn’t know what to say, eventually again settling on his phone, as a notification appeared, and he simply shook lightly his head, although a small smirk appeared on his face.

A small handsome smirk.

“… how much… how much do I have to pay you?” she asked already ready for whatever sum might come her way.

Although she got paid quite well, she knew that hackers undoubtedly risked so much that they got paid quite well for doing it, but as Sihtric finally raised his head to meet her eyes, he simply shook his head.

“… don’t worry about it”.

She had expected him to ask a big sum of money, maybe enough that she would have to maybe consider pawning a few of her family jewels.

She had expected him to ask of being paid in a natural way, asking for her body in exchange for having saved her ass.

But she certainly hadn’t expected him to simply dismiss it as if he hadn’t probably committed a few federal crimes to avoid a revenge porn vide of her getting out of some asshole’s phone.

“Se… serio… seriously?” she now felt like the quiet one, as Sihtric did nod his head, almost as if this was the usual thing, and he put again the phone in his pockets, giving her back her own one, meanwhile she wondered where the trick was.

Had he saved a copy of the video on his phone?

Did he expect her to fall in love with him, after saving her as some kind of modern Cinderella?

Men, no matter what, always wanted something from women.

They thought that simply because they paid for them of paid things for them, they owned them and they could do whatever they wanted with them, no matter that they were in 2019 and there was a Third Wave Intersectional Feminism that worked towards erasing that concept.

So, Sihtric couldn’t be different.

She knew it

“… actually…” here comes the advances and the requests “… there is an ice cream place nearby, you can offer me an ice cream there, if you feel like you owe me something”.

She was surprised and not solely because of the fact that he wanted eat ice cream in full winter, but she hadn’t ever been treated with such kindness in and outside of her line of work by a man.

And she couldn’t help but be somehow fascinated by it, almost as if she was walking on a tightrope and although it was dangerous, it fascinated her with the beautiful view that it offered, two mismatched eyes holding a shyness in them that locked in everything they might have said.

She hadn’t had a big crush on everybody since for ever, but she couldn’t deny that Sihtric certainly was an interesting type.

And yet she wouldn’t have fallen for the knight in shining armor.

She didn’t trust those in the slightest..

But she was undoubtedly curious about what made the man in front of her.

“… then show me the way to the ice cream shop”.

* * *

The ice cream shop was cutsie place where she hadn’t certainly thought of meeting the smart hacker, his black clothes completely mismatched with the colorful place which Ealhswith appreciated.

There she was finally able to breath as she realized she was free.

She wouldn’t have been blackmailed anymore for that video.

And she wouldn’t have risked her whole career disappearing just because some man decided that he wanted more than she allowed.

… and it was all thanks to the dork in front of her playing around with his spoon in the ice cream cup he had chosen.

His cheeks were a bit brightened by the presence of sugar now in his blood, although he had already talked a bit during their trip to the ice cream parlor, alongside her.

And strangely not about her line of work.

Ice cream had been the main topic and almost as if they hadn’t just met each other that morning, he had teased her for liking vanilla, meanwhile she defended her beloved flavor with all heart, insisting that although it might have been plain… it never disappointed.

‘… you almost convinced me’ he uttered lightly, with a bright smile and for a moment she had thought of having witnessed a miracle, something that had probably taken all the energy he had in his own body, because he had stopped talking there and then.

She had offered the ice cream, and he had welcomed gladly the gesture, already choosing the flavors with big eyes of a child that had been denied a treat for so long.

And that was when she understood that he had also known poverty.

If not something worse.

But she hadn’t asked anything about it.

They had sat down in a corner, as Sihtric moved like he could map out this entire place with his own eyes closed and she followed him calmly, settling herself up in front of him, as she herself started munching on the top of the straw in her milkshake.

Vanilla flavored, indeed.

Again Sihtric seemed to want to shrink in himself again, and some part of Ealhswith, a math major with a pedagogy course in her system, couldn’t help but think that it must have been some gesture that he had started doing in infancy and kept on doing as a coping mechanism.

A defense mechanism.

“… I don’t think I have said it” she commented as a few of the last clients move outside, giggling happily “… but thank you for doing what you did, I truly appreciate it”.

“… it was a pleasure” although she didn’t notice any change in his voice, but he seemed almost to perk up at the comment, almost as if he hadn’t expected it.

“… and thank you for not judging me… I know that what I do isn’t the best…” she didn’t know why she had to say that, but all her life she had felt like she was guilty of something, although she had never admitted it.

She was comfortable having sex with men, simply for money and she was comfortable with knowing that, but strangely she had always felt like this should have made her feel guilty of some obscure and horrible secret.

… and it had indeed horridly impacted her thoughts and mental health, although she refused to admit it.

“… listen I have a friend who is a sugar baby, so believe me, I don’t judge you, in the slightest” his tone was low key calm, but there was sprinkle of humor in his mouth, not against her but she couldn’t help but feel a bit calmer… and more at ease “… I am glad to have helped you”.

“Can I… can I ask you what programs you used? To delete the image… ” the question was both out of curiosity and both because you wanted to be sure that the photo hadn’t been simply hidden or such, although you were relieved by the fact that that asshole didn’t have it anymore on his phone, you didn’t want any traces to have been left on Sihtric’s phone “… I don’t know much about computers, although I did a course or two…”.

And she was low key impressed by Sihtric’s ability.

“… oh it’s mostly through remote control it’s a…” and he seemed truly surprised when she named a computer program for it, but it wasn’t the ‘my male ego was wounded by your comment my sweet maiden’ surprise.

It was honest surprised.

Almost as if he seemed a child happy of having someone who wanted to play with him.

“… you have certainly done more than one course to know that name” he mumbled “… didn’t you think about solving the problem on your own?”.

He seemed truly enthralled by Ealhswith’s knowledge and she blushed under that mismatched and intense stare, almost unwanted and uncontrolled, as if he hadn’t noticed he was staring at her that strongly.

“… I just… I know the basilar things, not the… you know…” and she lowered her voice with a conspiratorial tone “… hacker stuff”.

He giggled at that comment, a truly boisterous laugh that made her smirk a bit.

And he then proceeded to explain to her what he had done, the honesty in his tone confirming the truth behind his words, but also the way he explained it to her, was extremely proper and as if he knew all about those things.

Showing her that he truly knew his job.

‘… how do you know all this stuff?’ she had once asked him in the middle of his explanation, and he had seemed almost ashamed of it, lightly backing away as if he was scared to show himself, having taken an uncertain forward step.

‘… internet’ he simply stated, but Eahlswith sure it wasn’t the entire truth.

But didn’t push further.

‘… what about you?’ he tried to shift the attention away from himself “... interested in computer sciences?”.

“Kind off… although… I actually study math” she explained “… I want to become a teacher… I always… I always had this horrible… horrible math teacher. He always said that girls… girls weren’t logical enough to study math… and little eight-year-old me wanted desperately to prove him wrong”.

A soft smile appeared on Sihtric’s face at that, almost as if he had been told the same and could relate to that.

“… he seems like a very horrible teacher”.

“I don’t want any girl to feel like they don’t have a chance to learn math, simply because they aren’t logical enough” she muttered tightly “… I want them to believe in themselves”.

“That’s very very cool”.

Sihtric’s tone was honest and impressed.

She blushed a bit, realizing about how much she had blabbered about her life to a complete stranger, although he had been the first one to listen without adding anything or any judgement which made him easy to talk to.

But Ealhswith wasn’t truly convinced about his intentions.

But the atmosphere grew much more relaxed and calmer, and by the end she was finished with her milkshake, just as Sihtric had ordered one of his own.

She couldn’t help but almost dread the thought of leaving him behind, although she didn’t have any other reason to stay.

She wanted to honestly to try to make him stay longer, maybe invite him out.

But men weren’t much different among themselves and in the end when they discovered what she truly did, they’d try to make her to stop and then fetishize her situation till it got ‘too boring’, discarding them with the excuse of ‘not being pure enough’ for a true relationship.

Good enough.

She had gone through it multiple times when she was younger, and then she had stopped dating.

And she didn’t want to ruin the nice image of Sihtric she had in her mind.

“… I have to go…” she commented in the end, knowing that she had to send the part of her thesis to her relator before tonight.

But her body didn’t seem to cooperate instead pushing itself to remain seated in front of Sihtric, who raised his head surprised before again his gaze became focused on everything but her.

“… I do understand it” he replied, and then he seemed to have an almost conflict with himself, before he bit down roughly on his lip, taking a decision “… I… I teach at a small course… on computers… nothing truly illegal, but if you are interested in deepening this I… you have certainly the brain for it”.

She was full on blushing now and she didn’t know why she nodded, but she did.

And now strangely she had a reason to see that strange hacker again.

And her heart fluttered at that.

And she wasn’t sure it was a good thing.


	2. The Subway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faced with need and want, Ealhswith must come face to face with her gorgeous hacker with mismatched eyes...

She watched attentively the conversation going on between Sihtric and the blonde girl.

Or it was better to say that she spied the conversation between the two.

A blonde girl with the whole new ‘age look’, comprehended with a facial tattoo of a half-moon on her forehead, with what looked and Ealhswith hoped was henna, since it was colored.

And if it wasn’t, Ealhswith, personally, would have undoubtedly wanted her money back from the tattoo artist.

But maybe she was simply acting on her idiotic jealousy.

Something that had no reason to exist since she wasn’t in a relationship with Sihtric.

And it was the last thing she needed.

Although it was the first thing she wanted for herself.

But she couldn’t deny the obvious uncomfortableness shown by Sihtric, and you slowed your movements, meanwhile you collected your belongings, rearranging your backpack a few times, before you eventually noticed that the Sihtric looked like he could use an help.

And faking of getting closer to the projector where a few slides were still going, she moved closer to hear better what they were talking about, since the blonde had stormed in, right after Sihtric had finished his lesson.

Eahlswith had actually been attending his informatic lessons both because she had been harboring a crush on the black-haired boy, but more importantly because she found them interesting.

Almost as much as she found adorable the man holding them.

Sihtric wasn’t an imposing teacher and he seemed much more an interesting life motivator, explaining the set-up of computers and encouraging his students through problem solving for suggesting to use that approach for everyday situations, other than the ones they went through at lessons.

She honestly enjoyed computer science and knowing Sihtric she was always able to exchange a few words like a true teacher’s pet, meanwhile ‘the teacher’ blushed adorably and explained rambling on about the concept and what she might be interested in, adding a few websites where she might find some more info.

He was always open and attentive to everything people had to ask him, although he seemed shy most of the time.

But whenever he was surrounded by computers, he seemed at complete ease.

And he smiled so prettily…

Ok, she had to stop daydreaming about him.

She had promised herself not to delve further in that crush she had.

And that was what she was doing.

Even more when she casually listened in to his discourse with the pretty blonde.

“… for the last time! I won’t hack in Brida’s computer for you!” shouted loudly Sihtric, enough to startle even Ealhswith, something definitely unlike his soft-spoken character, and immediately an ashamed blush coated his full cheeks as he lowered his voice “… why would I even do that?”.

“… because I’ll pay you?” suggested the blonde girl, raising a light eyebrow at him as if to say ‘are you serious, dude?’ “… c’mon, Sihtric, I know that you don’t mind doing this for Finan, so pretty please, be a sweetheart and hack in Brida’s computer from me, so that I can see if she has gotten me anything for our anniversary”.

Oh.

Oh.

Shit.

Was Ealhswith a weirdo if she had just taken a breath of relief at knowing that the blondie had already a girlfriend?

“You can ask her” shot back Sihtric, as he moved to collect his own things, moving to switch off the projector “… you know… talk with her… like real people do”.

“Do I look like the type that cares about what ‘real people would do’?” replied sassily the girl, moving to push herself in front of him, to stop from leaving and Ealhswith couldn’t help but almost intervene, mostly because Sihtric seemed truly panicked, but he quickly ducked to the side of her lithe body.

“… she’ll get pissed to see you probing around in her computer, even if I am the one doing it” replied tightly Sihtric, switching off the projector and switching on the light, making Ealhswith continue her snooping faking her interest for her phone.

“… better!” replied blondie, a smart smirk on her face, her mouth becoming a soft shape, a sensual expression on her pretty face, as her light eyes shone with the artificial light of the only lampshade in the room “… when she is angry, sex is amazing”.

Ok, she had to intervene, because Sihtric looked so red that he might as well have been a few minutes from passing out.

“… Sihtric!” she called out, pushing herself to the side of blondie, who shot her an annoyed look and opened her mouth, probably ready to retort that ‘she was interrupting serious business’ “… we better hurry up or they’ll give away our reservation”.

Thank God, Sihtric’s face was shaped to normally be expressionless, so no surprise at her excuse appeared on his face, making her words effectively the truth in front of the other girl’s eyes.

“Oh” was the only thing blondie was able to utter, her mouth curling in a kitten-like expression, as she shot a ‘I-know-what-you-did-last-summer’ look at Sihtric, taking in Ealhswith and a shiver of uneasiness fell down her spine, as she wondered whether she might have recognized her as a sex worker.

The fear of being outed as such was a dear company of Ealhswith, having happened much more than she had thought when she had first started.

At first it mostly happened, when she was on ordinary habits and although no man would have straight up approached her in a supermarket with his family in toll.

But they certainly smirked like they held some kind of power over Ealhswith for their knowledge.

And those were the moments were in which she felt the dirtiest.

Although she had no reason to, because she tried to hold her head high in each moment, or self-pity would have completely destroyed her.

“… didn’t know you had a date” commented the girl, as she swiftly shifted her eyes from her to Sihtric, an obvious show of wanting to tease him further, but she quickly brought him closer to her with a teasing smirk straight up to the girl.

“… and you are ruining it” she shot back, knowing pretty well that when people were put up with their annoyingness they had to eventually back off.

Although they looked to be enjoying it as much as blondie.

But she eventually raised her hands as a sign of surrender, shaking her head, although her own mission didn’t seem to be finished, as she moved a small card towards Sihtric, with an IP address on it.

That you took, before Sihtric, could and threw away, somewhere in the small room that Sihtric rented in the local oratory, since he knew the priest that worked there, being’ a friend of a friend’ as he had told her, as soon as he had noticed her weirded out look at the whole place, at the first lesson she had attended.

‘I was just worried that I’d be set on fire if I walked in’ she had retorted, stealing a small look from Sihtric, and the man himself had commented that ‘if my friend Uhtred can walk in, so can you, believe me’.

“I’ll leave you to it” blondie’s smile was now more of circumstance as she moved out of the way with a swagger in her step, almost as if she had been wounded by the words of Ealhswith and was now redoubling her flare attempts to impress everyone on her walk.

“… thanks” uttered Sihtric once she was out of earshot, scratching his neck, as his entire body did again that futile attempt at appearing much smaller than it truly was “… Skade is a rough type, we call her ‘the witch’ among us”.

“That seems like a cool nickname truly” she returned loudly “… and you are welcome, I was worried that you might magically transform in a tomato, seeing your red face and unfocused stare”.

“I blush that much, don’t I?” shot back loudly Sihtric, as he sucked on his tongue, a mute sound escaping his mouth as he fought to keep it in.

And you fought to keep in your thought of how adorable Sihtric truly looked.

Time to change the subject.

“… oh by the way” she then moved to get something out of her bags, showing Sihtric a small wrapped up gift she had bought with herself to that lesson “… I thought of you, when I saw it”.

Sihtric looked truly surprised, and although many faked being truly surprised by some gifts, there was some kind of childish innocence in the way he took in the gift, leaving it in Ealhswith’s hands for a moment longer than it was proper and the woman quickly had to push it onto his hands, gently closing them around the wrapped object.

“You shouldn’t have” and he meant it.

He didn’t understand in the slightest why you felt like giving him that small thoughtful piece.

“… oh, don’t worry, I actually… I was actually at a used books market a few days ago and I thought that you might have liked the theme” Sihtric didn’t look less convinced “… ok I’ll admit it, I mostly bought it because I want to read it too, but before… I need to know if it historically accurate”.

The joke was a bit strained, but Sihtric’s curiosity got the best of him and he opened quickly the present, being careful with the paper, which was something that was strange for his big hands, but somehow the man had never acted like he truly knew of his strength.

Guarding it attentively, almost as if he was some kind of Hulk, ready to explode.

Almost as if he hid something.

But she tried not to push him for it, it was obvious that he felt uncomfortable still so she tried to keep herself smart and sharp around him, extremely attentive at what she said and the way she acted.

But at the same time, she couldn’t deny that she felt comfortable with him.

It was as if they were dancing on opposite sides of a tightrope, one wrong step and they would have fallen out, but at the same time they both played this game.

She had found the book meanwhile she was browsing a used books bookstore for some university books, since they were usually cheaper there, and she had found the book interesting.

She had immediately linked it to Sihtric and his lessons, when he had explained that Ada Lovelace, mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron, had been the first programmer of the whole history.

Before electrical computers were ever born.

And she had thought about Sihtric when she had found a book about her life, already adding the money for it as she paid for the books she had found, thinking about how happy Sihtric would have been of receiving it.

And right now, as he looked painfully awkward and uncomfortable, she couldn’t help but think that maybe she had thought wrong.

In the end there wasn’t much she knew about Sihtric.

She knew what he let go: that he was a shy hacker, who liked hosting lessons about computer science, being an awesome teacher and interested in knowing more and more.

And he certainly wasn’t somebody who backed up from a challenge, no matter what.

She might not have known much about him, but she admired him.

Sihtric finally managed to unwrap the wrapping paper, and although the moments before had been painfully awkward, his eyes shone with happiness as he took in the name of the book, definitely childish excitement appearing in his face, as for a moment his eyes met hers.

And he seemed truly happy.

“… how did you…” he was a bit of too taken aback to answer properly and talk, and she couldn’t help but smirk lightly at that cute embarrassment coating his face “… Gosh, this is honestly amazing”.

“I do hope that you know how to read…” she shot back, trying to diffuse the heavy air that now was set between them “… because if not there was an adorable books with drawings and…”.

“I do like this one” he laughed, as he turned the book between his hands “… but you shouldn’t have”.

“You let me come here for free lessons, so don’t worry, I do think that this makes us equal, in paying and such…” she said, knowing that although many paid to attend Sihtric’s lessons, he had insisted on her not paying him, since she was a university student.

‘And that gives you a special discount’ he had joked, one of the rare times it had happened, and Ealhswith had been honestly surprised by the fact that he hadn’t tried the ‘you get a discount because you are pretty’ or ‘you get a discount if you get me off’.

Which was putting her even more on edge.

She liked this guy, although she wouldn’t let it get far.

And he hadn’t still shown what he wanted to do with her.

Because every man wanted something from her.

She just had to figure our what Sihtric wanted.

“… you shouldn’t have” repeated Sihtric, but he still set the book down, as he searched for her eyes to express his true gratefulness and she was the one left embarrassed and uncomfortable, unsure of what to say.

“It’s a small thing” she muttered “… and don’t worry, I actually saved up this week since my car decided to break and I got to use the subway and such. Certainly, saved up on the gasoline…”.

And Sihtric’s eyes had become then focused and she had detected something that had made a shiver fell down on her face.

“… you take the subway tonight?” he asked, as he started to also get ready “… want some company?”.

And then he had finally done that misstep.

“I can take care of myself” she simply answered, not knowing truly how much where those words came from “… don’t worry, I have done this for a very long time, I don’t need any knight in his shining armor coming to…”.

“I didn’t mean it that way” Sihtric took a small step back, and Ealhswith felt guilty.

She had been trying to desperately push him in a far corner, but she hadn’t had much territory and much to work on to start, since Sihtric didn’t seem to have any of the flaws that made other men act like true idiots for her.

He didn’t think that being a sex worker was only something ‘fun’ and neither he had a ‘convert the whore’ complex.

But he might have had a ‘knight in shining armor’ complex.

And yet she immediately felt bad for accusing him that way.

She must have sounded like a hysterical bitch…

“I actually didn’t mean to imply anything about you not being able to take care of yourself…” he explained and as much as Ealhswith hated that his words sounded desperately true “… I just wanted to spend some time with you”.

Shit.

Shittest shit.

She didn’t know if she preferred him as misogynist asshole or as a genuinely interested human being.

Either way she was thoroughly screwed.

Which was something she should have been used since she did it as a job.

“Oh” that was all that she was able to utter.

“I must have sounded like a creeper…” and as soon as he had opened up about himself, he was back to that defensive stance he always had, making Ealhswith inevitably feel guilty for her behavior, but words wouldn’t rush out of her mouth “… I just… Gosh, you probably have things to do…”.

“I have a thesis to avoid” she commented, finally having regained her voice, able to word out the phrase because it regarded something mundane on which she could find her focus on “… so… I’d like to spend more time together, if you… I mean if you don’t have better things to do”.

“I actually have a date”.

Shittest shit, again.

“… understood” she replied, unable to think about the fact that maybe she had sounded too eager for everything, which evidently made him uncomfortable, even more if he had a partner on the side.

“… but I have a bit of free time before it, if you want” he explained softly, almost if he hadn’t noticed Ealhswith’s surprise.

As if he hadn’t just given the worst news ever.

And she seriously needed to stop crush on him.

“I have to take the red line” she sputtered out, again focusing on mundane things instead of the fact that the guy she had been crushing on for a few weeks had a partner, probably somebody who made him smile enough to make his beautiful mismatched eyes shine and that made him feel at ease.

Ealhswith had truly been an idiot for thinking that her, a sex worker with a problematic relationship with math could be his type.

She barely liked herself.

He certainly couldn’t have liked her.

“Oh, I also have to take it” he commented, completely not noticing her uneasiness “… till the last stop so we can share our busy time for a bit”.

She simply nodded, pushing herself slightly away from him.

The fact that he said he wanted to spend time with her didn’t mean that he necessarily meant that in a romantic way.

In the end he might have found interesting their convos, but they didn’t chatter together daily.

They didn’t know anything about each other.

Although Ealhswith could have sworn of having confessed him everything, he hadn’t opened up that much with her, and there must have been a reason behind it.

A partner seemed a pretty obvious reason.

Gosh, why hadn’t she thought before about that?

Still, although she was painfully awkward by the recent discovery, she tried her best to have a polite conversation with Sihtric and she was glad when their talk moved onto the lessons: if she was enjoying them and if she had checked out the sources and books he had suggested, having searched a few links between math and computer science for her.

And then moving onto what had happened to her car, something that did help her focusing on one thing at the time and ground her on more terrene thoughts.

Even more when she discovered that the tube of the red line would have had a delay of thirty minutes, making her wait in its hallway till the entire thing was set up and basically rebuilt again for technical problems that had brought themselves up at the last minute.

Leaving her to stand in a painfully awkward conversation with Sihtric, the man seeming quite annoyed by the last-minute problematic, but not enough for somebody who had a nice date.

And Ealhswith’s noisy ass had to comment.

“… don’t you have to let your date know?” she hadn’t meant to sound noisy or bitter, but still it caught Sihtric’s attention, as his eyes set up on her, making a shiver come down her spine, with a playful intensity that made her nervous “… about the delay”.

“I do think she can wait” there was a glint of sadness in his eyes, still, although he held the tight answer.

And she thought that he might not exactly be looking forward to his date.

“… you can get a cab, if you have to go, I seriously can handle myself and my thirty minutes wait” you tried to convince him, wanting him to get away from you and at the same time to stay with you for those minutes.

To choose you over whoever he had to meet.

Although it was a horrid thing to wish.

“I don’t think that she’ll stand me up” he commented, again that blackish tone in his humor that made you feel almost as if he was teasing you withholding some knowledge.

“… never be late for a date” she chastised him, but he just shook his head.

“Let’s just say that you can never arrive late at a date in a cemetery”.

And that shook Ealhswith to the core, turning to face Sihtric.

Who instead turned his head to the ground.

“… oh”.

Couldn’t she have seriously come up with something smarter?

She was finishing a degree in math for God’s sake!

But no matter how smart or how dumb you were, love fucked everybody up.

“I am visiting my mother at the cemetery” now he seemed the one who had to babble everything up “… I do it every month, at least once, to change the flowers and check in with her, although it might sound crazy”.

Ealhswith was silent a moment too long and this was a mistake.

Because Sihtric started to ramble, distancing himself from her physically and mentally.

“… yeah, I know that what I just said might have made me sound like a creeper” he muttered, biting his lower lip, nervous and tense, enough that she couldn’t help but notice a slight tremble in her hands “… but I swear I have no bad intentions”.

“You asked me an ice cream in exchange of deleting a video that could have potentially ruined my life” she found herself muttering, finally able to reply with the doubt she had had for her whole life “… I don’t think that you are even capable of bad intentions”.

Sihtric seemed taken aback.

And Eahlswith had to ramble a bit more.

“You might have this ‘cool emo’ look but believe me I do know that you are as soft as a teddy bear, inside” she should have shut up her mouth “… you aren’t a bad guy Sihtric, although you might think you are. And believe me I do know an awful lot of bad guys”.

Dudes that thought that just because of the job you did, it was alright to call you names or take advantage of you in any way, form or shape, rendering you the shell of what you had been.

“… thank you” it was again worded as if he didn’t deserve it and it took everything in Ealhswith not to simply hug him on the spot, not because she had a crush on him or his expression was sadder than a kicked puppy.

But because he seemed like he could use a hug.

“… so I don’t find you creepy for visiting your mom” she explained softly, suddenly realizing the heaviness that had fallen between them, bringing them closer, as if they had been tied with weights around their bodies and thrown at each other.

The hit was inevitable.

“… and I am sorry to hear about your mother”.

Sihtric scratched his head, showcasing he wasn’t comfortable, but still nodded his head in an acceptance of your thoughts.

“She had a… a sickness and the troubled life that my father brought her in certainly didn’t help” again that sad smile and then he wetted his lips, and Ealhswith noticed that they were horridly chapped and she thought about getting him a lip balm.

She seriously should have considered sticking her nose in her own business.

But yet Sihtric’s confession brought her to realize he had opened up with her, something that had obviously made him feel on the short end of the stick, uncomfortable and awkward and if Ealhswith had learned anything in her line of job, it was that sharing information always required two people.

“I understand it…” she bit her own lips, trying to focus on the words of her declaration, because if she thought about them too much, she would have lost herself “… my brother, I have a younger brother, he… he kind of… he had leukemia, we found it out when he was five and from then on it was a downward road…”.

She damnably refused to face Sihtric’s face.

“He is a sweetheart and he is so so active when he isn’t in the hospital, but he has spent so much time there that… it was expensive on my family and it is the main reason why I joined the sex work world, to support myself on my own and not weight on my family… but…”.

Shit, he would have thought she was a creeper had she started to cry.

“Is he…?” instead that was Sihtric’s question, a clear sign of worry in his tone.

“No, no, he is in remission… he has been for five years, but cancer can be a bastard, can’t it?” she was choking on the words, perfect…

… she must have sounded so pathetic.

In her line of work, she wasn’t allowed to even shed a tear for herself, so the fact that she was doing it right now, made her feel like utter shit.

What would have SIhtric thought?

That she was some crazed mad woman.

“… I am glad to hear that” he said instead, and awkwardly he gained the distance she had pushed between themselves “… is it… is it alright with you if I hug you?”.

And she didn’t know why she nodded immediately, something that made her probably seem even more pathetic.

He had just confessed that his mother had died, and he was visiting her at cemetery and yet she was the one who was being hugged close.

Sihtric wrapped up in her arms, awkwardly at first, but then she also leaned in it, calmly and softly, his head lightly easing up on the crook of her neck, meanwhile she was faced with his chest, because of the height difference.

And then the subway’s natural noise appeared.

And they were startled apart, by that, red-cheeked and with their eyes on their shoes.

They entered the tube in silence, soon discovering they were alone, which made the entire background seem like the one of a post-apocalyptic movie, making them both share a hysterical laugh.

“… thank you” she commented immediately “…and sorry for being an idiot”.

“I don’t think that you are an idiot” Sihtric’s voice was as calm water before the storm, unrelenting and strong, but also calm and brewing inside “… you are one of the smartest person I know”.

“Don’t even try to start” she threatened him jokingly “… I am barely able to function”.

“… and yet you are the best human being I have ever talked with”.

The confession knocked the air out of Ealhswith and honestly her first instinct was to run the shit out of there, but she couldn’t, hence she was pushed to look at Sihtric in the face, straight up to him and not a single trace of dishonesty was marked upon his face.

And she was broken apart and undone again.

“… what is your secret, Sihtric?” her voice was barely a whisper, as she found herself moving closer to him, a moth driven to a flame truly because no man can truly be that perfect without a skeleton in his closet.

“I might have a small crush on you” Sihtric’s comment was so honest that it definitely shattered anything that she might have known “… but you must think that I am some kind of creeper, I just… I just felt like I needed to let you know, so that you won’t feel forced to comfort me or…”.

And if there was one thing that according to Ealhswith never failed was the physical contact.

And she kissed him, since she was a mess with words.

There was a reason if she studied numbers.

And the kiss felt good, it felt much better than torturing herself with the thought of what Sihtric truly felt with her.

And he seemed to understand her, completely, as he gently moved to reciprocate the kiss, shy as he always appeared, and yet so strong and stable in himself that she anchored herself to him, almost desperately, as the kiss deepened.

And then the intercom announced her stop.

And she awkwardly separated from Sihtric, knowing that she had only a few minutes till she had to get off the subway, and that she could have used them to run away, as fast as she could, and never turn back.

But she might have acted like a coward.

And if there was one thing she wasn’t, was a coward.

“… I do know that you said you had a date, but… would you like some company after it?” Ealhswith was a mess, she was definitely appearing like a huge creeper to him “…I mean… this might… I should shut up”.

“I’d like that very much” simply replied Sihtric, moving closer to her, to kiss her lips swiftly, one more time “… never in a million years I thought that I’d get a date with you”.

“Oh, believe me, sweetie… I thought the same”.


End file.
